Balance
by Kariska
Summary: My first story! It's the kickoff off a story I've had in my head for a while. This is a post-shippuden story, with NaruHina and SakeSaku as well as other pairings. A genin team comes in with mysterious wounds and Sasuke decides to set out with Hinata and Kiba to discover the problem. Contains: NaruHina, SasuSaku, other pairings that I favor xD and OCs. ON HOLD FOR PLOT CONDITIONING
1. Chapter 1

Balance

"Hokage-sama!" Naruto Uzumaki looked up from his paperwork, staring at the ninja that had just burst into his, the Hokage's, office room. It was in this same room that many of the changes that made him who he was, came to be. It was here that he first learned of Jiraiya's death, where… "Hokage-sama?" Naruto snapped out of his brief reverie and nodded to the ninja. "What is it?" "Team 6 just returned from their mission." Naruto leaned forward. He was always took interest in the missions of the genins. They were the future of the village, so why not pay attention to them? "Well, how did it go? Did they clear up that disturbance?" The ninja was visibly agitated. "No, Hokage-sama, they returned alive, but badly wounded. None of them, including their team captain, is conscious right now." Naruto's eyes narrowed. "If there was any trouble, Kobayoshi should have been able to deal with it. Damn." The ninja fidgeted before saying, "There's more, Hokage-sama." Naruto snapped his fingers and an aide entered the room. "Send an attendance request to Sasuke-san." The aide nodded and was about to leave when Naruto called, "No, never mind."Confused, the aide bowed and left the room. Naruto spoke to the ninja while addressing someone else. "Did you get all that, Sasuke?" Sasuke, leaning on the wall outside the window, replied. "Yeah, I did." Naruto nodded to the awed ninja. "Continue." The ninja swallowed and did as requested. "The medical team says that after a thorough examination, they've concluded that while all of Team 6 will recover without complications, they are an intriguing case." Naruto tapped his fingers impatiently. "Get to the point, please." The ninja saluted. "The wounds were all made by ninja weapons and jutsu. The weapons were standard, but the jutsus used were…completely unfamiliar. Unlike anything they've ever seen." "Very well. You're dismissed." The ninja nodded and disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"Che. Sasuke, take a couple of chunin and check this out." Sasuke snorted. "It's probably nothing, Naruto. Do you really see fit to send me out to do this?" Naruto tapped his fingers. "You're probably right. Hmm…let's go take to the medical department personally and then I'll decide. Normally, you'd be right, but Kobayoshi is one of our best chunins. For him to be beaten to the point of unconsciousness…" Sasuke jumped inside the room as Naruto stood. "Looks like you're not as stupid as you look." Naruto whirled. "BAKA! You're the stupid one!" Sasuke dodged his punch, snickering. "What a childish remark." Naruto sighed and gave up. He might be Hokage but it was still nearly impossible for him to win against Sasuke in a verbal spar. He'd just have to beat him next time they practiced together. Sakura met them at the entrance to the hospital. "Naruto, Sasuke. You're here about Team 6?" Naruto nodded. "Yeah." Sasuke gave Sakura a quick kiss before they walked inside. Naruto made a face. "You guys are so disgusting." Sakura quickly slammed a fist on top of his head. "Who the hell do you think you're calling disgusting!?" Naruto dodged her next hit. "Hey! I'm Hokage! You can't hit the Hokage!" "**THE HELL I CAN'T!" ** "Owch!"

Naruto gazed at the pictures on the table. "These wounds…what kind of jutsu could have made them?" Sakura motioned with one hand. "That's exactly what I was thinking. There's absolutely no pattern, nothing to give me a clue as to what type of attack it was." Sasuke picked up one of the photos. "You were right, Naruto. I think I will check this out. With this level of attack, it's obvious they knew what they were doing _and _wasn't willing to kill them." Naruto slammed his fist into the table. "Damn! This is confusing…"

"_Kurama, do you have any input? Have you ever seen anything like this before?"_

"…_No, I've never seen an attack like this. However, from what I've seen, the conclusion is correct. The wounds are entirely random."_

"_Shit…thanks anyway, Kurama."_

"_Let me sleep, shitty brat."_

Naruto looked at Sakura and Sasuke. "Kurama doesn't know anything about this either. Sasuke, see if you can find out what this is. If you can find the ninja who did this, try to bring them back alive. If not, don't refrain from killing him." "Naruto!" Sakura glared at him. "That's too harsh." Instead of arguing like he would have during the old days, Naruto merely stared back at her. "If this ninja has harmed those of our village, then the village comes first. I don't want to have to kill this ninja, but peace must be maintained. We also must do this quietly. The nations have co-existed peacefully ever since the upheaval with Madara and the Juubi but it's still delicate right now. If this ninja is from any particular village it could stir up a war. Again. This is my decision as Hokage." Sakura sighed and relaxed. "Yes, Naruto-sama." Naruto shook his head. "Don't take it that way, Sakura. But I do what I have to do to keep our village safe. I'm sorry." Sakura shook her head. "No, you're right." Sasuke waved his hand dismissively. "Now that that's over with, can we get back to the matter?" Naruto nodded sharply. "Yeah, go ahead and take two chunin with you, of your pick. Make sure they're compatible with your fighting style. I don't want anyone getting killed because they didn't mind your Mangekyou Sharingan." Sasuke scoffed. "As if anyone would be so stupid. Still, some of those wounds were definitely from a long-range ninjutsu of some sort. I'm going to need long-range reconnaissance people. Naruto…" Naruto nodded grimly. "It's a ninja's way of life. I can't let emotions get in the way of good judgment." Sasuke gave him an understanding expression. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to use Hinata. She's one of the best and she can defend herself as well." "You don't have to tell me that. Just…watch over her." "Yes. I'll be taking Kiba and Akamaru as well." "Very well." They said good bye to Sakura and headed back to the Hokage office. Naruto paused outside the door. "How much time till you leave?" "We'll leave at first light." "Alright. I'll see you guys off then." "I'm going." Sasuke lifted a hand and disappeared, leaving a somewhat exhausted Naruto behind. Naruto touched his Hokage hat, feeling the weight of his important position on his shoulders.

"_Who would have thought that being Hokage would be this hard…I was prepared for difficulties but sending my own wife into an unknown battle…damn."_

"_**LET ME FUCKING SLEEP, YOU SHITTY BRAT!"**_

"_Hahaha, still the same, Kurama. Still the same."_

"_**Tch, it's your fault. During the last match with Sasuke we depleted quite a bit of chakra. I'm almost back to full power but it'd damn annoying."**_

"_Haa~? You enjoy it too, don't deny it!"_

"…_**I'm going to sleep."**_

Later that day, Naruto finally made it home. After Sasuke had left there weren't any more distractions so the rest of the day was filled with paperwork and annoying complaints. Hinata met him at the door, their two year old daughter, Akari. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and stepped up the stairs, kissing Hinata before swooping down to pick up Akari. "Hey there, Akari." "Daddy!" Akari's stubby arms encircled his neck briefly before the demand, "Down!" was given and she rushed off, black hair swaying and big, blue eyes looking for the bug she had been chasing. Naruto and Hinata walked to the kitchen and Naruto sat down, watching Hinata prepare him a bowl of ramen. She always made ramen for him when she noticed he didn't have a good day. "Naruto, you've got that look on your face." Naruto sighed tiredly and tapped the table with his chopsticks, thinking through what he was about to say. "Did you hear about the Team 6 incident?" Hinata paused her chopping for a moment and continued. "Um, a little. I heard that they got beat up pretty badly, even Kobayoshi-san." Naruto took a sip of water before continuing. "I can't go into details right now, but it's serious enough that I have to send Sasuke out." Hinata turned around at that statement. Sasuke was the next in line to be Hokage. He only left the village on very important missions. Naruto gazed at his wife and said, "He requested you and Kiba accompany him. I agreed but I needed to get your say first." Hinata turned and resumed cooking, deep in thought. "Naruto…I know it's a ninja's duty but what about Akari? Miyabi will be fine as she's already a genin and doesn't need to rely on me as much. But…Akari?" Naruto nodded. "I know. I actually don't want you to go. Very much so." Hinata dumped some vegetables into the ramen and stirred. "Me too. But it's my duty." Naruto sighed regretfully. "I thought you'd say that. I'll just take Akari with me to work then." Hinata gave him his bowl along with a kiss. "Can you do that?" Naruto grinned, "Of course I can! I'm Hokage, after all! Itadakimasu!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Shout-out to TurboAce for a helpful review!**

**REVIEWS PLEEEEEEAAZZZEEE!**

**I do not own Naruto. Nobody does. Except Kakashi with the Thousand Years of Pain-jutsu. He totally owned Naruto then. (lol)**

In the forests surrounding Konoha, four dark shapes sped through the dimly lit foliage.

Kiba dodged around a tree and caught up to Sasuke for a moment and asked,

"So, we know where the disturbances occurred and where Kobayoshi was attacked. How do we know the culprit is still there?"

"We don't. I have a sealed jar with the attacker's scent in it. It will be a last resort if we can't track them."

Akamaru barked and Kiba replied, "Yeah, I know. Akamaru says that if it hasn't rained in that area recently, then some lingering scent should still be around."

Hinata listened to the two of them speculate silently. "Sasuke-kun, why am I here then? I know you mentioned that you need me to scout ahead to prevent long-range attacks but surely you and Kiba can protect yourselves."

Sasuke swung off a tree limb and landed on another, pausing slightly before launching off. "Yes, but we don't know what we're going up against. I want to minimize risk as much as possible."

"Yes."

They were mostly silent, with a couple of comments and barks from Kiba and Akamaru every now and then, until arrival at the scene of the battle, just outside of a far off village.

It had taken them all day just to get here and Sasuke didn't relish the thought of tracking in the dark. The light was already dimming yet they took a moment to take in the sight of the clearing. Scorch marks marred the ground; kunai and shuriken were stuck in the ground and laying around, beginning to show signs of rust. Some trees had limbs ripped off and scores dug deep into their wood. It didn't look like a battle scene that three genin had made. It was obvious that Kobayoshi and the unknown foe had done most of the fighting. The three genin had most likely been knocked out quickly. The most unusual sight was the chakra pattern seared into the ground. Aside from the normal chakra burns from Kobayoshi's elemental fire attacks, there was a swirling, waving pattern underlying all of the scarring. Sasuke's mind quickly analyzed the fight scene, playing over what should have happened in his mind. The utter _alien _feel to the entire battle site was unnerving. Akamaru barked and Kiba quickly sniffed the air, stilling.

"Sasuke…" Sasuke turned. "Hn?" Kiba shuddered and Akamaru, big as he was, cowered a little and whined.

"There's a faint smell, underneath the smell of battle. It's the smell of chakra, but it's very, very weird. Kurama's chakra, even before Naruto became his friend, at least smelled of chakra despite its sinister scent of rage. This smell…it's like…I dunno, it's just really weird."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he turned to Hinata. "Scan our surroundings and make sure no one is around. I'm going to set some traps while you and Kiba set up a small camp. If you finish before I get back, eat and then sleep. Watches will be in three hour cycles, starting with Kiba, then me, then Hinata." With that, Sasuke disappeared with a faint _whoosh. _

"Gah! Akari! No-! You're not supposed to get into that!"

Naruto swooped over to pick up Akari, who was in the middle of "helpfully" rearranging his paperwork. Looking at the mess, Naruto sighed. _"She's such a handful…how am I going to get anything done?" _

Akari giggled manically at her father's expression. Naruto mock glared at her. "Oi! You're a little demon, aren't you?"

Laughter filled the room. "Now you know what I felt like all the time, Naruto!"

Naruto whirled around and beamed and the person who had just entered the room. "Iruka-sensei!" Iruka shook his head, still chuckling.

"Not sensei to you anymore, Hokage-sama." Naruto let Akari down, who was desperately in need of catching a certain beetle in the corner. Naruto gave Iruka a brief hug before beginning to gather the papers that Akari had scattered.

"Nah, you'll always be my annoying teacher, Iruka." Naruto put the papers on his desk and then sat down. "Now then…" Iruka sat down opposite of him.

"What did you need, Iruka?" Iruka was not as young as he used to be, nor was he old. He still had the vitality of life in him, but with the Great War and the rebuilding afterwards, he was starting to grew prematurely. "Nothing much, Hokage-sama. I just need you to sign off on some paperwork for the Academy." Naruto began to sign several papers.

"How's Team Six doing?" The entirety of Team Six had actually learned under Iruka himself and he was understandably worried about them.

"They'll live, but there are certain aspects to the battle that need to be investigated." Iruka paused before venturing further.

"Naruto…you sent Sasuke." Naruto looked up from the papers, studying Iruka's face. He was fishing for information. Not that he blamed Iruka; he just wasn't at liberty to divulge the information currently.

"I'm sorry, Iruka-san." Through the use of honorifics, Naruto was letting Iruka know that while he wanted to tell him, he couldn't. "I can't talk about it. However…I sent Hinata with him."

Iruka barely contained his surprise. Naruto letting Hinata go into danger meant that it was a very serious condition. After all, incapacitating chunin of Konoha was not a light matter. Whoever did this could be potentially threatening to not only Konoha but to the other villages as well.

Naruto finished signing the papers and set down his pen, sighing. "I knew that being Hokage was a very difficult job. Knowing and living are two different things though."

Iruka arranged the papers neatly and stood. "Still, Naruto-sama, you have become Hokage just as you promised this entire village all those years ago." Naruto gave Iruka a wide grin.

"It took me long enough too!"

As soon as Iruka left Naruto called for his aide, Konohamaru. Konohamaru still aspired to be Hokage, but he had decided he would vie for the position after Naruto's time. Konohamaru walked in and bowed briefly. "Naruto-niisan-sama."

Naruto dropped his head, sweat-dropping. "Just Naruto-sama, Konohamaru. I need you to go to the old records and pull up anything you can find any similar incidents like what happened to Team 6."

Konohamaru paused. "Naruto-sama, even I don't have clearance for those documents, even if I'm your aide."

Naruto scribbled on a piece of paper. "You do now. Give this to the keeper of records." Konohamaru took the paper and bowed before walking out. Naruto stood up and looked out the window, deep in thought. "I think I'm forgetting something…what is it?" he muttered to himself.

He whirled around and sweat dropped. He had forgotten about Akari. And the room was empty. Naruto ran out of the room, praying desperately that Sakura never heard of it. Hinata would forgive him. Sakura would end him.

Sasuke sat with his head leaning against a tree, asleep to any prying eyes but wide-awake and alert. All his senses were strained to the utmost to detect anything out of place. He had spent at least two hours setting up as many traps as he could, almost depleting his entire supply of kunai, shuriken and wire. He had also brought a few rigged shuriken and fuma shuriken but he was saving them for any fights.

_Crrrrack!_

Sasuke stilled, opening his eyes to bare slits. It could have been an animal but it would have to be a heavy one in order to make a noise that loud. Lightly snapping his fingers, he woke Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru. The lay still, watching him intently. Sasuke opened his eyes and flicked his chin at Hinata. "Byakugan…" she whispered.

After a moment, she turned her hand over, her thumb pointing east. Sasuke nodded and slowly slipped around the tree, leaving a clone in his place. "Sharingan."

Sasuke made a wide circle and came up on a young boy with black and silver hair staring hard at their camp. He was built like a runner with hard, compact muscles. He could probably pack quite the punch with them, even if he was smaller. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He was also carrying ninja tools.

Kurai Kou watched the new nuisances silently. They wore the same headbands as the previous attackers. He was here investigating the latest unbalance and they had thought he was responsible. The genin were young and foolish. The chunin had proved to be a slight challenge but nothing he couldn't handle.

Kurai froze when he felt a kunai against his throat. _When…? _"Hn…move and you're dead."

The danger and killing intent from just the voice was as such that Kurai stilled. "To be able to sneak up on me…interesting indeed." "Hinata, Kiba, I got the culprit." The unknown attacker led him to the camp and set him on the ground. Kurai quickly took in the appearance of the visible ninja. One was a beautiful, raven-haired woman.

The other was a wild looking man that was reclining against a massive dog. They both looked very skilled and dangerous as well as old enough to have survived the Great War.

The Hokage of Konoha must trust them and had obviously sent them to investigate after he had trashed their ninja. However, it was the one behind him that he was interested in. "Kiba, get his scent. Hinata, keep an eye on him."

The ninja finally came around to the front after releasing him. He was dangerous looking, a katana strapped across his back with powerful, smooth muscles flexing as he twirled his kunai. Then he turned and looked Kurai in the eye.

Kurai raised an eyebrow in surprise. "The sharingan, eh? An Uchiha…you must be Uchiha Sasuke, best friend to Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage of Konoha. I see you didn't activate the Mangekyou."

Sasuke examined the ninja in front of him. His tight fitting clothes probably meant he was someone who could move with fast speeds. The top was sleeveless and black and the leggings came down about seven inches below his kneecaps. They were also black as were his sandals. Assassin's colors. His eyes weren't the strangest he had ever seen, but they were a very pale silver color, almost white.

"You know a lot for a ninja who doesn't even have an affiliation with a village. Are you a missing nin?" Sasuke paused and added, "Not only that, you know about the Mangekyou Sharingan which is a tight secret in Konoha." The ninja, who couldn't have been more than nineteen, shrugged.

Normally, Sasuke would have taken that as an insolent expression, but this ninja seemed to genuinely _not care. _"It doesn't matter who I am and what I know. I was sent here for an investigation."

Sasuke flipped his kunai and pointed it at the ninja. "Funny. We were too. What's your name?"

Kurai considered the question carefully before saying slowly, "You may call me, Kou." Sasuke nodded and sheathed his kunai.

"Let's get to the point then, Kou-san. Who sent you here and why were you spying on us?" Kurai tapped his leg for a moment before answering.

"The former cannot be answered, but as to the latter, it is simple. I was curious as to what you were doing here." Sasuke impatiently clicked his teeth.

"We were here because four of our ninja were injured in a fight in that clearing over there. Did you do it?" Kurai smiled thinly.

"Yes, Sasuke-san, I did do that." Kiba cursed, tensing and Hinata gasped. Sasuke was suddenly behind Kurai again, his katana unsheathed and the edge pressing against his jugular. "You seem relaxed about admitting something like that. I might kill you now."

Kurai grinned ferally and replied, "If you were ordered to, you would have already. You're supposed to bring me in alive." "Hn."

Sasuke kept his katana in place but the damn ninja was right. Naruto had wanted him brought in alive. This ninja wasn't an idiot. Suddenly, Sasuke paled. _Bastard…how did he get past all my traps? Even Hinata couldn't have seen them. Kiba was right, there's something very odd about this ninja. _

"Are you going to comply peaceably and allow yourself to be taken to our village?" Sasuke asked. Kurai shook his head ever so slightly. "I cannot, my task here is not complete. I did attack your ninja, but they were getting in the way." "

Enough. I'll ask you one more time. Will you obey compliantly?" Kiba slashed his hand through the air. "Sasuke, enough, he obviously doesn't want to come. We should just knock him out quickly."

Kurai turned his grin, which had turned borderline maniacal on Kiba. "Would you like to try?" Sasuke pressed his katana slightly harder against Kurai's neck. "Silence. We have you already."

"Do you?" Kurai's form began to flicker and suddenly he disappeared. "Hinata!" "Yes! Byaku—"

"No need, I'm right here!" Sasuke whirled and found Kurai leaning against a tree. His appearance had changed so that his hair was no longer a mix of silver and black. It was just silver now. "Shit!" Sasuke leapt forward and slashed at him with his katana. He sliced through the tree, the air empty once again. "Kiba, Hinata, spread out and trap him in a circle." Sasuke whirled around and blocked Kurai's attack right before his kunai reached the base of his neck. Kurai suddenly slide his kunai up the blade and kicked the side of Sasuke's leg.

Sasuke allowed the blow to knock him to one knee but then used the momentum to roll over to his right. He stood up in a crouch and flung a shuriken at Kurai's unprotected back. Kurai leapt backwards and launched off the trunk of a tree. Sasuke leapt forward and they met mid air before pushing each other back. They moved around the forest, exchanging furious blows and cutting trees until they found themselves in the clearing.

Kurai and Sasuke were both breathing somewhat hard but it was only the beginning. They hadn't even begun using chakra for the most part. Sasuke had his sharingan activated and Kurai had used controlled chakra bursts to deflect a falling limb but that was all. They eyed each other, waiting for the other to make a move.

Kiba and Hinata stood at the edge of the clearing, watching the two of them face off. "Kiba-kun, should we go and help?" Kiba shook his head. "Sasuke has this covered right now. I doubt he'd appreciate us getting involved in his fight. We can help if he becomes too hard pressed though."

Kurai charged Sasuke, throwing shuriken before attempting to drive his kunai into Sasuke's gut. Sasuke easily deflected the shuriken, and then flicked his katana to the side, flipping Kurai's kunai away. Swinging his katana in a backhanded arc, he swung to take the ninja's head. Kurai saw the blade coming. It was too fast, he couldn't dodge. His expression lost whatever normalcy it had before.

Sasuke in mid-swing still noticed. He looked absolutely insane.

Suddenly, his katana just stopped. Even while he was applying all his strength in the swing it wouldn't move.

"Ranmyaku."

The word was said in an undertone, almost a whisper but it filled the entire field with its power. It wasn't pleasant either. The word crawled, _slithered, _its way across the body and into the ears. It filled the body with an unbearable, desperate itch. The need to escape the word filled the soul with the need to run and run and run till you couldn't remember the feeling.

Kurai's eyes were filled with a faint glow and the wind picked up.

_Except it's not the wind. _Sasuke realized. It's his chakra. The chakra was now a full blown storm, tendrils of visible _silver _chakra whipping wildly, all of them coming from Kurai.

"Shit." Sasuke jumped back as far as he could, one tendril whipping out to him. He dodged it, but the front of his white shirt was cut cleanly. No chakra burns, no holes. _It's a clean cut. From chakra. It's too clean. _

The tendrils that raked the ground formed shallow, black scorch marks, exactly like the faint ones that were on the ground. Sasuke suddenly realized that his three-tomoe sharingan wasn't keeping up with the chakra movements. Kurai still hadn't moved from where he had straightened and where the chakra whips had originated.

He was just standing there with a crazed expression, filled with power. _So this is what Team 6 was attacked with. It's obviously at least a Rank-A attack, if not S-Rank. Too think sharingan can't keep up with the movements. What is this…? _

Kurai finally moved his head tilting slightly to one side and his eerie silver eyes met Sasuke's red ones. _**"Well, then, Uchiha Sasuke?" **_ Even his voice was strange now, echoing on its own with each echo overlapping the previous one. He could still make out what was said though, somehow.

Sasuke pulled his arms out of his shirt and gripped his katana. Kurai raised his right hand, two fingers point straight up. Above the two fingers, silver crescents shimmered into being.

His left hand was held waist-high, stretch open. An faint image that looked like a tomoe floated above it, but he couldn't be sure.

Sasuke judged the silver crescents to be a dangerous long-range attack, probably the one used on Team 6 as well. _Looks like I have to get serious…_

Kurai watched Sasuke's brief preparations and clenched his teeth in a feral grin. _Looks like he's finally serious. Kukukuku…_

"_Mangekyou Sharingan!"_


End file.
